


Avengers: Endgame, The Way It Should Have Been

by avenging_the_avengers



Category: Avengers, Endgame - Fandom, Marvel
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Captain America - Freeform, Endgame, Iron Man - Freeform, Marvel - Freeform, Multi, Thor - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2020-03-05 13:16:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18829426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avenging_the_avengers/pseuds/avenging_the_avengers
Summary: ~Before actually summarizing, huge disclaimer here of a few things. 1., many of the dialogue in this story is from the writers of Avengers Endgame and they own what they wrote. 2., I actually thoroughly enjoyed Endgame but many scenes either bothered me logically or angered me, and I’m not talking ships here but more so plot. If you disagree and think it shouldn’t be changed, simply don’t read it. 3., I love the Avengers with all my heart and all respect goes to the people playing them writing these movies and all the work that goes into them, I just think paying attention to characterization and logical aspects of your movie is important.Actual summary is short:It’s Avengers Endgame with some dialogue from the movie but my take on what should have happened. This fixes most time and plot holes, I’m sure I messed up somewhere, but I did not ruin timelines. I thought that it would be interesting if the surviving Avengers simply got the time stone and retried fighting Thanos, just as Dr. Strange did with Dormammu. Thank you for reading, I love anyone who does.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer, again, just in case you didn’t read it the first time: 1., many of the dialogue in this story is from the writers of Avengers Endgame and they own what they wrote. 2., I actually thoroughly enjoyed Endgame but many scenes either bothered me logically or angered me, and I’m not talking ships here but more so plot. If you disagree and think it shouldn’t be changed, simply don’t read it. 3., I love the Avengers with all my heart and all respect goes to the people playing them writing these movies and all the work that goes into them, I just think paying attention to characterization and logical aspects of your movie is important. 
> 
> Also: Some MAJOR changes I made:  
> I’m cutting out the Thor storyline: no character should be made fun of for being fat or overweight, but Thor was made fat just so that could be the joke and he could be the joke, and it wasn’t okay. Seemed kind of rude.   
> I’m also cutting the half-hulk half-Bruce thing, I didn’t really have that much of a problem but I missed Bruce!!  
> And main thing is the plot; it still involved time travel but...I think I did it a bit more logically. Also the end....I wanted Steve to not leave his friends. Enjoy :)

Someone sets an arrow into a bow, pulling it back to its breaking point, the tightest it can possibly be. The archer is revealed to be Lila Barton, with her dad Clint by her side guiding her shot. 

“Okay, hold on. Don’t shoot. Not yet. You see where you’re goin?” He asks, making sure that she doesn’t let go just yet. 

“Mhm. I got it.” Lila had the confidence of her dad, and, not surprisingly, the skill as well. 

“Okay, hotshot, we gotta worry about how ya get there first,” Clint told his daughter as he began to correct her positioning and stance. He turned her foot to face the target and straightened the angle of her arm as she held the bow. 

“Okay put your foot ...here. Alright can you see?”  
“Yeah,” Lila replied.   
“Are you sure?” He asked her, partially messing with her at this point.   
“Yeah I’m sure, dad.”

Clint then purposely pushed her hair in front of her face and covered her left eye to further jokingly annoy his daughter.   
“Oh yeah, how about now??” This elicits laughter out of them both, and Lila then once again focuses on her target, which is nailed to a tree a few feet away. In the distance, laughter is heard as the rest of the Barton’s-Cooper, Laura, and Nathaniel-are playing around and setting up for an afternoon picnic. 

“Alright, ready your fingers,” Clint says to Lila, as he continues to prepare her for her shot.   
Laura, Cooper, and Nathaniel have a small game of catch going as Laura continues to set up lunch. 

Nathaniel throws it to Cooper, and he leans to catch it.   
“Nice job!” Cooper told his younger brother.   
“Nice throw, kiddo,” Laura told Nate as she was watching her sons bond.   
“Hey, you guys!” Laura now got the attention of Clint and Lila, who looked over at her to listen to what she had to say.   
“Do you want mayo, mustard, or both?”

Lila looks up at her dad with a disgusted face, bow still in hand.   
“Who wants mayo on a hotdog?”   
“Probably your brothers,” and they both laughed again. “Two mustard for us! Thanks, mama.”  
Laura continued to prepare the food as she asks Nathaniel what he prefers: “mayo or mustard?”  
“How about ketchup?” He knew what he wanted and was already adamant about that, just like his aunt Natasha taught him. 

“Ketchup?” Laura ruffled his hair and laughed it off. 

“Okay mind your elbow...and there. Perfect position. You got this.” Lila lined up one last time and let go of the arrow. As it flew to its target, it pierced the center perfectly, just like her dad as evident by the many arrow holes from previous shots. 

“Yes! Good job, Hawkeye! Go get your arrow!” Clint’s voice was thick with pride for his daughter. She showed the most aptitude for his renowned skill, and she was still very young. Laura interrupted his thoughts:  
“Enough practice, you two! Food’s ready.”

“Alright, alright we’re coming. We’re hungry,” Clint shouted back somewhat begrudgingly but mostly with sarcasm in his voice; of course he would willingly go spend time with the rest of his family. 

Clint turns to tell Lila, but finds that she’s suddenly not there, as if she disappeared out of thin air.   
“Lila?? Lila let’s go!” He comes back around the tree to tell Laura but finds that she, as well as the boys, are all gone, leaving him all alone. “Honey??? Lila? Boys? Laura???”   
He’s lost. Confused. Scared. Something just took his whole family away from him, and he would do anything to get them back.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The time is now after the events of Infinity War, with Tony Stark and Nebula stuck on a ship floating through space

“ggGGAHH!” This is exclaimed by Nebula, who seems angry at something important. 

In reality, her and Tony are simply playing paper football, which Tony is thoroughly enjoying much to Nebula’s dismay, as she is taking this a bit too seriously, seeing as she’s now in a fighting stance. 

“See uh...you don’t actually need to do that cause, uhhhh you’re just holding position. You got this,” Tony reassures her and encourages her to try again, insisting it’s just a game. She tries again, just barely missing this time. 

“Oh yeah! See that was close, you’re gettin there.”  
Nebula tries yet again, and this time she makes it. A perfect shot! 

“There you go! That’s a goal, you got one,” Tony explained to her, and Nebula began to understand the fun of the game. 

“I would like to try again.” No matter what Nebula was doing, she always sounded so serious and on edge. Even while playing paper football. She flicked the paper yet again and it scored her another point. 

“See, now we’re all tied up. You feel the tension building? It’s fun!” He continued to hype up the game, definitely attempting to lighten their situation.  
“Alright, my turn again. Make the goalposts.” Nebula did so, and Tony missed by a mile. So bad that one might have thought it was intentional.   
“That was terrible! Now you have a chance to win.”  
Nebula began to take her next turn, and she flicked the football. 

“Aaaaaaaand you’ve won! Congratulations.” Tony then reached out to shake hands with her, proud of her victory. 

Nebula shakes back, somewhat aggressively, but happy that they played the game. 

“Fair game. Good sport. I’ll get ya next time though. Did you have fun?” He wanted to make sure that something good was happening for them. Nebula explained some of her past with Thanos to him, and she’s been through hell. 

“It was...fun. Yes.”   
Sometime later that evening, Tony sits on the floor of the ship. The busted, destroyed Iron Man helmet lays a few inches in front of him. He attempts to turn the helmet on, tapping on it to try to get it to work, sighing as he does. 

“This thing on?”  
As it turns on it begins to scan Tony as he leans back against a wall, groaning in agony and pain. Anyone could see that Tony Stark was now a shell of the man he once used to be. He’s clearly sick, tired, and worn down, almost to the point of giving up hope. 

“Hey, Miss Potts...Pep.” He starts to speak into the old helmet. “If you hear this recording, don’t feel bad about this. And uh, do me a favor. Don’t post it on social media. It's gonna be a real tear-jerker. I don't know if you're ever going to see these. I don't even know if you're... if you're still... Oh god, I hope so. Today is day 21, uh 22.” He looks out the window nearest to him. The vastness of space reminding him of his own impending doom. And, although slightly ominous, it was truly gorgeous. 

“You know, if it wasn't for the existential terror of staring into a void of space, I'd say I'm feeling better today. The infection's run its course, Thanks to the blue meanie back there.” He was referring to Nebula, only a few feet away. 

“You'd love her. Very practical. Only a tiny bit sadistic. Some fuel cells were cracked during battle, but we figured out a way to reverse the ion charge to buy ourselves about 48 hours of time. But it's now dead in the water. We're 1000 light years from the nearest 7-11. Oxygen will run out tomorrow. And that'll be it. And Pep, I ... I know I said no more surprises, but I was really hoping to pull off one last one. But it looks like...well you know what it looks like. Don't feel bad about this. I mean, if you grovel for a couple of weeks, and then move on with enormous guilt. Part of the journey is the end. By the way, just for the record, being adrift in space with zero promise of rescue is more fun than it sounds, but uh, I should probably lie down now.” 

He finished this with tears in his eyes. The reality of saying goodbye to Pepper-more accurately, saying goodbye to a recording that Pepper might never hear-finally sunk in. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He didn’t want to say goodbye. In his sorrows he continued to blankly stare out into the depths of space, depressed but accepting of his fate. 

“When I drift off one last time, I’ll dream of you. It’s always you. We’ll meet again, Pep.” 

With that, Tony turned the helmet off one final time and falls asleep on the floor believing it to be the last time he ever would.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Nebula found him on the floor again. He never learns. Tony fell asleep everywhere but his chair practically every night. Tonight he was sprawled out on the floor, weak and asleep, only a few inches away from his helmet. Nebula picked him up and set him in his seat, as per usual, and let him rest. He looked visibly weak and exhausted. He wouldn’t last much longer, but she let him sleep.   
As she turned around, she looked out the front windshield, admiring the view. After a few seconds, she noticed a beam of bright light. It was approaching closer and closer at a rapid pace.   
“Tony,” she tried to alert him. “Tony!”   
This time she yelled, concerned for their safety. Tony Stark woke abruptly, and he too saw the blinding light in front of him. He would have believed that this was death finally taking him if it weren’t for Nebula standing right beside him freaking out. This must be serious, he thought to himself. Nebula didn’t lose her composure like this unless it was absolutely necessary. 

“W-what?” Tony asked in a tired, hazy state. “What’s that?” 

“I’m not sure. I’m concerned. It’s rapidly approaching. We have nothing to fight it off.” 

Even with Nebula’s consistent, ominous-sounding voice Tony could tell she, too, was scared. Just as he was about to reply, the light stopped and became clear. It wasn’t a light at all, but instead a girl. A girl flying through space with no protective gear who had glowing eyes and a burst of flame around her. She stopped in front of the ship, smirked, and then seemed to disappear until Tony and Nebula felt the whole ship move in the opposite direction of the way they were floating along before. Their glimmer of hope came in the form of Carol Danvers. 

 

The remaining Avengers were trying to heal after what had happened so little time ago. Thanos had won. He succeeded in doing the snap, and with it went almost everyone the survivors loved. They were silent, unsure of what to say, what to do. The silence and despair broke when a huge, beat up ship came flying down from the sky towards the open ground. This caught the attention of the Avengers for more reasons than ‘a huge ship is about to crash land outside.’ It was almost the opposite of that. It seemed to be falling somewhat gracefully, but not like there was a pilot actually trying to land it. They ran outside to take a closer look, and they soon got their answer as to what exactly was going on. Carol Danvers was flying a ship hundreds of times bigger than her down to safe ground. It landed, and Steve Rogers stepped up to meet Carol as she walked towards the group. Before he could ask her anything, the door to the ship opened, and out came a rugged, weak Tony Stark with Nebula by his side. He looked distraught, like he was hanging onto his life by a few threads. 

“Tony…” Steve began, but he found himself speechless. He wanted to finally put all the drama and conflict behind them. In a time of this much loss it wasn’t worth fighting.  
“I...I lost him. I lost the kid. He’s-he’s gone. I lost him. Never should’ve taken him up in the first place.” Tony continued rambling on. 

They knew exactly who he was talking about, and it made their hearts ache even thinking about losing Peter. 

“Come on, buddy, let’s get you inside.” This came from Rhodey, hoping to get his friend some rest. And some food. And some help.   
As they began to walk back to the compound, Pepper came dashing out and started to cry. 

“Pep…” Tony said this weakly, but with clear joy in his voice to get to see her again.

“ It’s okay, it’s okay.” They embraced, and remained hugging and crying for a while longer until they both decided they should head inside. 

Steve and Rhodey held onto Tony, each at one of his sides, in order to help him actually get to the compound. Once inside, he was seated and hooked up to an IV, everyone doing anything they could for him. Tony wanted none of it and insisted he was fine. One look at him and anyone could tell that he wasn’t even close to being fine. He was the furthest thing away from ‘fine.’ He was being stubborn and angry and irrational. Steve and Tony were already arguing and Tony thought it was a good idea to rip the IV out of his arm and storm off. Tensions were higher than ever in a situation where they were already through the roof.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Not much was said that night. Most people went to bed without a word. A few lone souls remained awake and alert in the main room of the compound. Captain Steve Rogers was among these three people, sitting and thinking about everything that went wrong. At a table a few feet away from the desk Steve sat at was Carol, unsure of what to do. She wasn’t there for the battle. She got called after Thanos and at least half of the team dislikes or doesn’t trust her, maybe more. Back in the corner where he sat all night was Thor. It wasn’t shocking that he couldn’t sleep: he had lost his brother yet again and blamed himself for not killing Thanos when he had the chance. The guy hadn’t spoken all day, obviously devastated. Although all three were in close proximity of each other, none of them spoke, which created an awkward silence. Carol became sick of the void of nothingness they had created and spoke up. 

“So, Captain.” This snapped Steve out of his thoughts. He turned to her. 

“I’ll try to make this as not-rude-sounding as possible, and I don’t mean to interject, but you and Mr. Thunder over there” -she pointed to Thor as she said this- “are the only two people who seem to not despise me at the moment and the only two people I feel I can actually trust right now. So I have to ask. What exactly happened here?” She asked out of true sincerity and curiosity, and no one else seemed to want to answer her questions or understand that she can actually help them. 

“Yeah, that is a big question, but you deserve to know,” Steve told her. At least someone was being helpful around here.   
“It all starts with these things called the Infinity Stones.” He began to tell her everything. Every encounter with the Infinity Stones they had before even knowing what they were. Once he brought up and described the Space Stone and how it was being held in the Tesseract, Carol’s eyes went wide. 

“Uh…I know what that is. It’s how I got my powers.” She watched as he went from looking exhausted to shocked and intrigued. 

“You have the power of the Space Stone...inside of you?” He asked her with disbelief at first; he had no idea that she was that powerful. 

“Yeah it was...it was a while ago. This guy from my past, he tried to blow it up. It clearly didn’t work seeing as it still exists and was used just a few days ago. When he tried to destroy it the pure power of it created an explosion and instead of destroying me with it, I got these powers.” She lifted her hand and made a fist, showing him the glow of the pure power that she had. 

“Wish we would’ve had you before the snap occurred. We would’ve called but-no offense-Nick never even told us about you. The pure power of you and Wanda could’ve destroyed Thanos for good.” If only Fury would’ve told them about it. He must’ve had a reason but it would’ve been nice to know about a literally superhuman. 

“I told Nick to call me only in a case of a serious emergency. From what I can hear it seems like you guys have had your fair amount of those. Especially this. He should’ve called.” Having the powers of Captain Marvel to help with New York or Sokovia and especially against Thanos would have been a big help. If none of those were emergency worthy, then they didn’t want to know what Nick did classify as an emergency.   
“So, this ‘Wanda.’ Is she like me?” She was curious about this mysterious girl. If she had the power that Carol did, maybe they could actually make something work, save the world, destroy Thanos. 

“You could say that. The kid’s got some skill. She got her powers from the Mind Stone; she has everything from telekinesis to manipulation of the mind to mind reading and just pure raw power. She destroyed an Infinity Stone with one hand while holding off the other five with the other. If we had both of you at the same time Thanos could have been destroyed before the snap ever happened.” He said this somberly, regretting what could have been if he had just known of Carol’s existence. 

“So they can be destroyed? Where is she now?” This was still a sore spot. A question Steve didn’t want to have to answer, but he did anyway. She deserved to understand.

“She’s...she got dusted. One of the many we lost. She was just a kid and she’s been through more than I can even imagine. We lost a lot of people. We all did. The team isn’t the same anymore. Less than half of us remain, and all because of stupid mistakes and being just one step behind Thanos at all times. I think that’s why we can’t ever just ‘move on.’ We were so close.” The pain in his voice was glaringly evident.

“I’m sorry,” this was all that Carol could muster, feeling the pain through his words as if she experienced it herself.

“If we can’t get back those we’ve lost, then we can at least go take the little remaining life Thanos has left away from him. Show him what it feels like.”

This came from the previously silent Thor. They weren’t sure if he was even listening to them. 

“What do you mean? Like go and-”   
Steve’s question was interrupted by the God of Thunder.  
“Kill him. That’s exactly what I mean. Take the only thing he has left away from him: himself.”   
His point wasn’t exactly crazy. They could achieve two of their-or at least Steve’s-goals at once: finding and killing Thanos and getting the stones for themselves. He wasn’t very interested in moving on; he was getting them back. Whatever it would take, he was getting him back.   
“I guess we know what we’re doing tomorrow then, don’t we?”


	2. Go Get Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They do know what they’re going to do tomorrow. The Avengers go to confront Thanos and a familiar face shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all again for reading at all, I thought I would get maybe 2 hits but you have all surpassed that. I’m not sure if the writing in this is even good, or if the story is good, but I’m having so much fun writing this. :)

The nine remaining avengers stood around in the compound, debating if they should actually do this. Go and kill Thanos? Take the stones for themselves? They had no way of telling if it would work. There was no trace of Thanos or the new power he could possibly possess. 

“I just...I think it’s a good idea. A good source to let our anger and sadness out on.” This came from Steve, still hiding his true intentions. Most had the same, though. If they were going to obtain the stones themselves, why not bring everyone back? They at least had to try. If not anything else, just try. They owed it to the ones who had fallen, all of those who weren’t there with them.  
They showed up to the ‘garden’ that Nebula had spoken of, on a mission to kill. One isolated hut stood on a hill, the only of its kind and the only structure in sight. Only one thought came into the Avengers’ heads at the sight of this building: Thanos. They busted in from all directions; they came in through the roof, the door, the side, anywhere they could break through. Carol had Thanos in a headlock. Bruce in the Hulkbuster gripped onto his Gauntlet Arm as Thor sliced it off. Rocket and Rhodey had guns to his head as Steve and Natasha walked up to Thanos with a murderous look in their eyes. Everyone starts to realize that Thanos looks weaker than ever, his whole body almost entirely burned. Rocket decides to go over to the now-chopped-off Infinity Gauntlet, and upon looking at it closer, their worst nightmares had come true. The stones were gone. 

“Oh no…” Rocket’s despair alerted everyone else in the room, whose eyes were previously locked on Thanos.

“Where are they?” This came from Natasha. A question that was partially directed to Thanos himself and partially a general question of confusion. Where could they possibly be?

“Answer the question!” Carol screamed at Thanos. This was no time to play nice. Everything they held dear to them was dependent on getting the stones. 

“The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation,” 

Thanos answered. It wasn’t a good answer. They served ‘no purpose?’ The purpose he had for using them in the first place was genocide. Their purpose is to get who they loved back.  
“You murdered trillions!” Bruce was shouting now. If he wasn’t having so much trouble becoming Hulk recently then he would’ve gone green by now. 

“You should be thankful.” Thanos, again trying to make his actions seem like some sort of good deed, had the audacity to tell them that they should be thankful he murdered half the population and everyone they loved. 

“Where are they?” Steve couldn’t believe this. He didn’t want to. He wanted them back. He needed them back. He needed…

“Gone. Reduced to atoms.” Thanos snapped him out of his thoughts. Gone. Gone. It couldn’t be true. 

“You used them two days ago!” Continuing his rage, Bruce shouted more at the Titan. He had a good point, though. He had literally used the stones two days prior. How could they be gone already?

“I used the stones to destroy the stones.” He sighed as if it was obvious, expecting the group in front of him to almost expect this.  
“It... nearly killed me. But the work is done. it always will be. I am inevitable.” 

He spoke like they were supposed to somehow feel bad for him, like they should be upset that he almost died destroying the only possible items that could bring everyone back.  
“We have to tear this place apart. He has to be lying.” Rhodey was hopeful. They all still were. But it was true, he destroyed the stones with the stones. 

“My father is many things. A liar is not one of them.” Everyone turned to her at her words.  
“Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly.” 

Even though Nebula continued to betray Thanos and join the Avengers, they still questioned her loyalty. The connection she had with Thanos was...weird to say the least. 

Thor hadn’t spoken yet. Thor didn’t ask Thanos any questions. Thor was pissed. There was no more time for questions. Lightning surged through his veins, and as he walked towards the burned, weak Thanos, he swung his Stormbreaker that he had just summoned and in a flash he sliced Thanos’ head clean off. He was past the ‘ask questions first’ stage. This man took everyone. He killed his brother right in front of his face. He was tired of his lies and explanations and fake pity. The rest of the Avengers turned to him in this moment. Staring in disbelief. 

“I went for the head.” Five simple words that meant everything to the God of Thunder, lifting the weight of the world somewhat off of his shoulders.

They then understood. Thor continued to blame himself. Avenging his brother, avenging the rest of the Avengers, and avenging every being on this planet and every other thing that died due to the terrorizing Titan was his only goal. They all felt better now that he was gone, but the stones were gone as well. Now the hope in the room drained to nothing, realizing that there was now nothing they could do to bring everyone back. It was over.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
FIVE YEARS LATER

The year: 2023. The world: in ruins. A whole five years had gone by since Thor mercilessly killed Thanos. Many of the remaining Avengers went their separate ways, back to their homes or back on a space crusade to save other worlds. A few stayed back in New York though. One of whom was Steve Rogers. He didn’t have a home anywhere but New York, and he wasn’t able to move on. He was walking home after his group therapy session, something he wasn’t too keen about but knew he needed; he couldn’t deal with this alone. He’s lost too many people. He’s lost his best friend more times than he can remember. Every time he gets him back, he loses him again. He’d been painstakingly thinking of possible solutions and ways to get them back for the past five years. Eventually the others quit, accepting the horrible fate the world had been handed. Steve reached the compound. He thought about how it had practically no use anymore. No one was calling for the Avengers to come and save them. No one needed Captain America. They all just sat in grief, lived their lives, and he was just Steve Rogers. As he was about to walk into the main room, he saw that Natasha sat at the desk with slices of a peanut butter sandwich in front of her, untouched, a dead look in her eyes.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
SAN FRANCISCO  
2023 

An average storage center. A seemingly average van. On a label, one name: Lang. No human life in sight. Suddenly, a rat comes scurrying out, running over a control panel on the van, accidentally accessing the portal to the Quantum Realm. The back doors burst open, a middle-aged man flying out at insane speeds. He gets up, groaning out of pain and confusion. The man is Scott Lang, confused as to where exactly he is. 

“What the hell?” He mutters to himself, still not sure of anything around him.  
“Hope?” He calls out, hoping she’ll also somehow be around here. Needing to know if she was okay. 

With no answer, and no obvious way to get out, he finds the nearest writing utensil and anything he can write on. The word HELP in big, bold letters written on a sign, hoping to get the security guard’s attention. He’s successful in doing this, and, with suitcase in hand, he leaves.  
As Scott walks down the street, he can’t help but notice the pure destruction and solemnity around him. What happened? How long was he really gone for? Where is everyone? He was coming no closer to getting these questions answered. He attempts to ask a kid passing on his bike, but he gives him no answer. He walks further and eventually comes across the largest graveyard he’s ever seen. People stand around mourning. The place is called ‘The Vanished.’ What the hell did he miss?  
“No no no no…” Scott realized it was people in this area. All around. Like a mass genocide of the earth. She can’t be on here. He can’t survive if she’s on here.  
“Excuse me. Sorry. I-“ He ran through multiple couples, searching and scanning each name. “No, Cassie, no, please,” he said under his breath, as he continued to plead not to find her name.  
“Please no, please no, not Cassie not-“ Scott froze. What laid before his eyes put him to a halt, all previous thoughts gone. Right in front of him on a wall of those who had died was a name that was impossible to be there: Scott Lang. Right above it was his daughter, Cassie Lang, and he almost passed out right then and there. After a full mental breakdown and racing thoughts of ‘Cassie is gone…where is Hope?...what happened to Hank and Janet...how long had he been gone?’ he finally decided what he needed to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
“So we boarded that highly suspect warship that Danvers warned us about.” The voice of Rocket Raccoon, rather Rocket Raccoon's hologram, was speaking from outer space. Multiple Avengers were on hologram call: Nebula, Rocket, Okoye, Carol, and Rhodey. They all seemed to be talking about a mission. 

“It was an infectious garbage scowl.” This came from Nebula, not surprisingly in her constant threatening-sounding voice. 

“Yeah, so thanks for that tip, Danvers.” Rocket was on edge and a bit annoyed that it was all for naught. 

“Well, you were closer,” she replied.  
“Yeah, and we smell like garbage!” Interrupting this possible banter, Natasha directed her question to Okoye. 

“Did you get a reading on those tremors?”  
“It was a mild subduction under the African plate,” she informed Nat.  
“But do we have a visual? How are we handling it?” Natasha continued with her questions, desperate for answers. 

“Nat...it’s an earthquake. Under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it.” She had a point. They couldn’t just stop a volcano in the ocean by themselves. 

“What about you, Carol? Are we gonna see you next month?” Nat felt alone. She was speaking to holograms and was sitting in the compound by herself. She wanted the Avengers back. She wanted her friends back.

“It’s not likely.” Of course not. She didn’t blame any of them, but Nat just wanted to actually see everyone again. 

“What, you gonna get another new haircut?” Rocket asked her, clearly not important to the situation. 

Done with Rocket’s taunting, she replied: “Listen fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth, are happening everywhere, on thousands of planets.” She had a lot more to take care of, and Rocket of all people should know that, seeing as he’s not even from Earth  
.  
“Good point, that’s a good point,” he murmured under his breath.  
“Now that that’s out of the way, you sadly may not see me in a long time.” Carol said this with a tone of sadness in her voice. She wished she could come back, she wished everyone could come back. 

“Alright. Uh, well. This channel is always active. So, if anything goes sideways... anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't... comes through me.” Natasha was trying her hardest; she just wanted to help. To see everyone again. One by one, the hologram Avengers hung up their call, disappearing in an instant. All but Rhodey left. He stood there in the silence for a little while. Nat sighed and sat down, a bit startled when she realized Rhodey was still there. 

“So, where are you?”  
“Mexico. I got notified that the feds found a room full of bodies. They didn’t even have a chance to get their guns. Not a chance.” Rhodey explained what he heard. What he saw. The terrifying reality of a room full of dead bodies. 

“It...could be a rival gang.” Even Nat herself didn’t believe the bullshit coming out of her mouth. 

“Except it isn’t,” Rhodey continued, “it’s definitely Barton.” As he said this, Natasha visibly cringed, letting it sink in exactly what he’s done.  
“What he’s done here. What he’s been doing for the last few years…I mean, the scene that he left, Nat…” Rhodey paused as Nat began to tear up. She knew it was real but she just couldn’t believe it. 

“I gotta tell you, there’s a part of me that doesn’t even want to find him.” Rhodey went on, attempting to tread lightly. He knew this was a sore subject for her. She tried to stop her tears, she tried to stop the sadness and sniffling, but she just couldn’t. 

“Could you...will you find out where he’s going next?” She pleaded. 

“Nat…” Rhodey was reluctant to agree to this. Clint became a mass assassin of innocent people overnight, and his killing spree hasn’t ended. 

“Please,” Nat continued to beg. She needed this.  
“Okay, fine. I’ll let you know, okay? Stay strong.” Rhodey then left as well, leaving Nat all by herself. As he left, she began to cry harder. She finally took a bite of her sandwich, but she had lost her appetite. Still hanging near the door, Steve decided to finally walk into the room. He heard everything but didn’t want to interrupt. 

“You know, I'd offer to cook you dinner but you seem pretty miserable already. And you have a whole peanut butter sandwich there so…” Natasha jumped, but wasn’t in fear or shock. Just surprised at his presence. 

“Hey. You here to do your laundry?” She asked, half jokingly, half not.  
“To see a friend.” The ever noble, loyal Steve Rogers. She didn’t need his comfort, but it was nice anyway. 

“Clearly your friend is fine.” She said this referring to herself, of course. She was the only other person in the compound. He gave her that look. The ‘I’m Steve Rogers and I’m not leaving till you’re happy’ look. She knew it well. 

“You know, if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side, then I'm about you to hit you in the head with this peanut butter sandwich.” She said this jokingly, and he knew it. They laughed slightly, but the reality of the situation continued to settle in upon Nat. 

“Sorry. Force of habit.” Steve was very used to attempting to comfort his friends in any situation. He knew it wouldn’t work here, though. 

“You know,” he continued, “I keep telling everyone they should move on and grow and go forward. Some listen. Some do. But not us.” He honestly felt hypocritical. He would preach to everyone to move on and to better themselves and that everything would be okay and yet he himself tried to think of ways to bring them all back every single day of his life. He couldn’t move on. If he did, he didn’t wouldn’t know how to truly live with himself. 

“Steve...if I move on, if we move on, then who does all this?” She was distraught. Who would remember them if they all moved on. 

“Maybe it doesn’t need to be done.” He knew he didn’t believe this himself, but he tried to comfort her anyway he could. 

“I…used to have nothing. Nothing at all. And then I got all this. A job. A family. This family. And it made me better. I was better because of it. And now they’re gone. And even though they’re gone, I’m still trying to be better. I need to…” She began to trail off there, deep in her thoughts and trying not to cry again. Everyone was gone and neither of them knew what to do about it. They sat in a comfortable silence for a bit until camera footage popped up and startled them. 

“Uh...hi. Is anyone home??”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for taking the time to read and possibly rate/comment, it means a lot. 
> 
> The Avengers will return in chapter 3.


	3. Scott Lang, Master of Quantum Physics And Time Travel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wow look at that I’m posting again! Who would’ve thought? Not me. So sorry about that, but here comes ant man! Also sorry I dusted Cassie, but Scott missed way too much of his little girl’s life so she got dusted

Uh...Hi! Is anyone home?  
Natasha and Steve turned as they were snapped out of their thoughts by a familiar voice. The security footage was on, showing a man outside of the compound. 

“This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport? In Germany? I got really big, and I had my mask on. Maybe you don’t recognize me.”

They were confused. For one, Scott Lang was recorded to be dead, and for two, where was he five years ago? Why was he here now? Steve stood up and walked toward the monitor showing Scott Lang outside of their complex with concern, and Natasha mirrored him. 

“Is this...is this an old message?” This was directed mostly to Nat but he was also speaking his thoughts out loud. 

“No that’s...that’s the front gate.” It definitely was not an old recording. She would have remembered a random appearance from Scott Lang at the compound. It’s completely across the country from where he lived.  
“Ant-man? Ant-man, I know you know that. Listen, I need to talk to you guys.” Steve was now convinced this was current. He sounded desperate. They went to let him in, and he nervously paced back and forth without a word.  
Steve decided to be the one to break the weird silence. “Hey, uh, Scott. Are you okay?”  
“Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I’m fine.” He paused, hesitating to continue. Fine never meant fine. “Hey, uh, neither of you have happened to ever study Quantum Physics, have you?”  
Although a normal topic to Scott, neither Nat nor Steve were that kind of smart.  
Nat was, however, particularly witty. “Only to make conversation.”  
Ignoring her joke, Scott continued: “Alright, uh, so... five years ago, right before Thanos...happened...I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. See, the Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small, you know, like me. Hope, she's my...she was my…” He struggled to talk about Hope. He didn’t want to cry again, especially in front of Cap and Nat. “She was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there.” He couldn’t believe how long he’d truly spent in the Quantum Realm. He couldn’t believe that the Pym Van Dynes were gone. He couldn’t believe that Cassie,,,  
“I'm sorry. That must've been a very long five years.” She couldn’t imagine being stuck in a whole different realm for five years. The guy was expecting to be out in a few minutes.  
“Yeah, see, but that's just it. For me, it was five hours.” At this, Nat and Steve shared a look that was a mix of confusion, shock, and bewilderment. The hellish reality of the past five years was only five hours to Scott. How was that even possible?  
As if he could hear their thoughts, he answered what they wondered.  
“See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Uh, is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving. Apparently I just spent five years without food.” Neither Nat or Steve claimed the sandwich, so he ate it.  
“Uh, Scott, what exactly are you talking about?” Steve never learned Quantum Physics and definitely never learned the properties of possible time travel. Or at least time...alteration? He didn’t know.  
“Okay. Um. What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is that right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if there was a way to enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like... Like before Thanos.” Was he speculating what Steve thought he was speculating?  
“Wait, are you talking about a time machine?” His mind was all over the place. A time machine.  
“No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. It's more like a…” Scott stumbled on his words, trying to think of something better to yeah. “Okay. Yeah. A time machine. I know it's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some way... There's gotta be...this is crazy.” He began to realize just how insane this all sounded, but he needed to try. Cassie and Hope were no longer in existence. He would drop dead right now without a possibility to get them back, no matter how slim the chance,  
“I get emails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore. That’s not even a joke.” Rocket contacted her way more often than she’d expected.  
“Great uh, so who do we talk to about this?” Since they had confirmed not knowing anything about quantum physics, Steve and Nat were out of the question. They needed someone...science oriented.  
We cut to a cabin in the middle of the woods, the now-home of Tony Stark. Scott, Steve, and Nat joined Tony on his porch of his weird, secluded log cabin. Scott began to explain the plan. He was a nervous wreck and he couldn’t tell if it was because of the fact that he was proposing the idea of time travel to the egotistical genius that was Tony Stark, or because of the fact that getting Cassie and Hope back was an actual possibility right now.  
“Now, we know what it sounds like…” Scott trailed off. He was nervous and didn’t even have concrete proof that this could work. But it had to work. It had to.  
Steve spoke up, equally desperate to change the past.  
“Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?” They’ve been through alien invasion, murderous A.I., and a purple, magic rock-wielding Titan. They could figure out time travel.  
Tony sighed. “Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck Scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?” He said this like he was better than them, like he knew they wouldn’t understand anything he just said.  
Of course, they didn’t. Steve never learned anything more than basic-level school subject, Nat never cared for quantum physics (she was too busy studying the art of killing, of course), and Scott only knew the basics he’d learned from Hope. If only she were here, he thought, she would understand. She would argue with the Iron Man all day about quantum physics and the possibilities of time travel. If only she were here…  
Tony saw their confusion, obviously, so clarified for them. “In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home.”  
Scott may not have known the science behind it, but he knew that Tony was wrong about that.  
“Except that I did.” Scott came home. He didn’t know why or how the universe allowed him to come home, but he did.  
Being the jerk that he’s known to be, Tony had to of course shut this all down immediately.  
“No, you accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull off a... What do you call it?”  
“A time heist.”  
“Yeah, a time heist. Of course, why didn't we think of this before? Oh, because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?” Tony’s response was making them all fairly uncomfortable, not to mention the fact that he was crushing their hopes. Crushing Scott’s Hope.  
Scott, however, refused to give up. He wasn’t here for the Avengers when Thanos first came. He wasn’t there for the Avengers during the five year grief period. He needed to be there for them and everyone they lost now.  
“The Stones are in the past. We can go back and get them!” He seemed so confident in this, but Tony’s face showed otherwise.  
“We could just...snap our own fingers. We can bring everyone back.” This was Nat. She didn’t lose one person in particular, but she lost her family. Everyone she worked alongside and loved were gone, with only a few remaining.  
“Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?” Tony wasn’t exactly wrong to assume this, but the lack of optimism sure wasn’t helping.  
As if on cue, Steve swooped in. “I don't believe we would.”  
“Gotta say, sometimes I miss that giddy optimism of yours. However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome would be our collective demise, so hard pass.” Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and ever-realist.  
“I mean, not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-” Scott was interrupted by the man sitting across from him.  
“Yeah, I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott. Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on Back To The Future?”  
“No.”  
Although, if he was being honest with himself, that’s exactly what Scott was basing this off of.  
“Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that'd be horse shit. That's not how quantum physics works.”  
Obviously, but what else do they have to go off of? None of them are physicists.  
Even Natasha Romanoff, known pessimist and assassin, was getting irritated with Tony’s blatant disapproval of the Time Heist. They didn’t have time for statistics. They lost everything. They had to try.  
“Tony... We have to take a stand.”  
“We did stand. And yet, here we are.” He said this so nonchalantly. He said it as if he didn’t care about those who were lost.  
Scott was fed up at this point. “Listen man, I know you got a lot on the line here. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost a whole group of people who are very important to me. I lost everyone. Everyone. A lot of people did.” His voice raised in desperation. “And now, now we have a chance to bring her...them... back. Bring everyone back. And you're telling me that won't even…” Scott cut himself off. He couldn’t finish the sentence without going into an entire mental breakdown.  
“That's right, Scott, I won't even. I got a kid.”  
“So do I, Tony. And right now she’s non-existent, dead to the rest of the goddamn world.” Scott was beyond pissed at this point.  
He ran off the porch and back towards the car they came in. He was done.  
“Bye, Tony. Thanks for nothing.” Natasha left him with that..  
With only Steve remaining, he faced Tony. “Man, I get it. And I'm happy for you, I really am. But this is a second chance.”  
“I got my second chance right here, Cap. I can't roll the dice again.” And with that, Steve turned to go without another word.  
He found Nat leaning against the car, Scott already inside.  
“Hey, is he okay?”  
“About as okay as he can be right now. Not only does Tony refuse to help him, but then he pulls the ‘I have a kid card.’ I mean, I get it to an extent but not to the guy who lost his daughter.”  
Steve nodded in agreement. “He has a point. And a family. But so many people lost everything. Scott lost everyone in his life. Everyone he cared about was gone in the blink of an eye, and he wasn’t even here to see it happen. The guy’s just trying to help.”  
“We should probably take him back to the compound,” Nat suggested, but Steve had another idea.  
“First, we need to make one more stop.”  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Bruce Banner had been in hiding for the last five years. After they killed Thanos, he kind of disappeared, never to be seen by the remaining Avengers. Of course, he gave Steve his address just in case of emergencies.  
So, naturally, Bruce was shocked to see three familiar faces at his door.  
“Hey, Cap...what are you doin’ here?”  
“Uh, I know you didn’t really want to be contacted unless it was an emergency, but I think we may have an emergency on our hands.” This got Bruce’s attention. Steve was never one to joke around about something serious.  
“We may have accidentally invented time travel!” This came from Scott, who was at the back. He became visible only when he said this as he jumped up and poked his head out around Steve.  
“Well, uh, come on in, then.”  
He was a bit overwhelmed at seeing Nat again. It had been five whole years. Even longer since they’ve actually gotten to speak to each other while not in the middle of a massive war. They always were close. Her hair was different again. It seemed like every time he saw her, it was a different length, color, or style. This time it was wavy and long, with blonde streaks in her natural red hair. It looked great.  
“Hey. Bruce? You good?” She asked him teasingly, and he didn’t realize that they had been speaking to him.  
“Uh, yeah, I’m fine. I’m good. So, what’s this about time travel?” Smooth.  
Scott explained his story once again. He was beginning to get bored of retelling this painful, random event that had occurred in what felt like the past few hours. Bruce, thankfully, was more understanding than Tony was.  
“That’s...absolutely incredible. Now, you gotta understand, I’m just a physicist, no quantum involved. I know enough but I never mastered in quantum physics. I might be able to help you, but I just don’t know if I know enough to succeed.” Bruce always had insecurities, and everyone knew that. But he was brilliant.  
“Bruce, you’re the best chance we got right now. We used to think controlling the Hulk was impossible, but look at you now. Everyone thought time travel was impossible, and yet here we are. You may not be a quantum physicist, but you are a physicist. That’s better than any of us. You can do this.”  
Nat always knew how to get to him. He couldn’t argue with that logic. And he must be pretty great if she believed in him.  
“Alright. I’ll do it.”  
“Alright! Let’s go then, man! Good to have you back!” Steve did miss him. Everyone did. Bruce never thought he was important to the team, but that was far from the truth. Plus, it was just nice to have him around.  
With Bruce back at the compound, their work begun. Back at the Stark Cabin in the Woods, the same thing was happening. They were all simultaneously trying to achieve the same thing, unaware of this fact. Tony may have deceived Nat, Steve, and Scott, but reality was very different than the facade he put up. The real reason he was so passive-aggressive and angry was because he couldn’t figure this out. Night after night he had been working away, never getting enough sleep because of his attempts to solve the quantum realm.  
Bruce on the other hand was taking a whack at time travel with human experimentation. Scott had provided the Pym Particles, and now he was being sent back through time. They figured out how to bring him back; however, he never came back quite the same.  
“We did it!”  
“Yeah, Bruce, we did it. That’s why we have a baby in front of us!”  
“That’s Scott!”  
“As a BABY!!!”  
“He’ll grow!”  
“Bring back the current Scott, please.”  
Their attempts weren’t exactly perfect. They eventually got one right, and although they figured out time travel, it wasn’t exact enough to try this for real.

Meanwhile, Tony was cycling through his ideas and tried a new one. This caused him to drop the tablet he was holding.  
All that was heard in the house was the faint whisper of:  
“Holy shit…”

Steve was staring out the window when he saw it: the black Audi. Tony.   
“So he finally came to his senses…” Steve muttered to himself.   
The car pulled up right in front of the compound, and Steve walked outside. Tony stepped out with a familiar look in his eyes.  
“So…”   
Steve didn’t exactly know how to start. For one, Tony seemed completely uninterested in their idea yesterday, and two, the wound that was their ‘civil war’ still seemed fresh. Every interaction between them in the past eight-ish years was extremely awkward.  
“Gonna stop ya right there, Cap. Listen, all that’s important right now is that I did it. I figured it out, okay? Scott’s ‘Time Heist?’ Yeah, it’s possible. I got it. We can do this.” Steve was...shocked to say the least. This was the same man who denied them and got pissed when this was even suggested not even a whole day earlier.   
Tony had figured it out. They could actually do this. Bring everyone back. Bring...  
“Okay. Um. How, exactly?” Steve was very confused.  
“It’d take too long to explain to you, old man. Oh! I have something for you.” Tony led him to the back of the car and opened the trunk. Inside was a fresh, pristine, shiny vibranium shield.   
“I believe this belongs to you,” Tony motioned to Steve with the shield. “Take it as you will. A peace offering, an olive branch if you will. A symbol of the hostility between us. Maybe as just a shield. But it’s yours.”   
Steve was a bit skeptical. Last time Tony, himself, and the shield were in the same room armor was busted, blood was spilled, and friendships were shattered. He seemed serious though, like he finally wanted to put it all behind them too.   
“Thank you, Tony. Seriously. It means a lot. The shield and you being here.”  
“Well, off to work then, yeah?”

They spent hours in the lab with Tony explaining the physics of it all to Bruce and Scott. They had figured out the mess that was the quantum realm, and now they knew how to manipulate it. Scott was glad, and couldn’t contain his excitement at the possibility at getting them all back.  
“So, uh, what’s next Cap?”  
“Time to get the team back together.”

“Alright, ya Terrans better have a good reason for callin’ me here. I’ll have you know I was just in the middle of a nap!”

Steve greeted the sarcastic space rodent. “Welcome back, Rocket.”

“You know we wouldn’t call you without good reason, Build-a-Bear. Is the Blue Meanie with you?”

“Call me Build-a-Bear one more time, Stark, and you’re gonna get a blast to the face. And no, Nebula doesn’t travel with me. She’s not a part of my crew and I don’t trust her enough to be in the same place as me after the many murder attempts. She’s comin’ down on her own, should be here soon.”

Rocket did have a right to be suspicious of Nebula. No one really knew where she stood, not to mention the fact that she tried to kill multiple of them on more than one occasion. Plus her relationship with Thanos made everyone uncomfortable. She arrived shortly after Rocket did, and so did Rhodey. 

Once inside the compound, the current group of eight Avengers sat around the long table in the main room. Cap and Tony stood up, and both lead the speech that the rest were listening to.

“Now, I know most of you are here with us right now, but we need to gather a few more of you who either can’t or won’t come with just a quick call.”

“Right,” Tony agreed, “and we have just three more of us to complete-and I say that lightly-the team. Clearly our main goal here is to reassemble the whole team. So! We need to get Carol, Thor, and...hopefully Clint.”

Nat visibly cringed at the mention of the ex-Hawkeye. They all knew how much he meant to her; they knew their history. 

Steve continued anyway.

“So, uh, yeah. We’re gonna be splitting up into teams. Three teams for three people. So Rocket and Bruce, you’ll be going to talk to Thor. All I know is his location, but I have no idea what exactly he’s been up to. You two are closer to him than anyone else here, so hopefully you’ll be able to convince him to come.

Scott, Nebula, Tony. You’re gonna be here trying to contact Carol. If push comes to shove, you’re gonna go to her. That leaves Nat, Rhodey, and myself. We’ll be going off to find Clint. All we need to do is convince them to come here, give them hope. Let them know that we have a chance. Good luck, Avengers.”

They were all hopeful after that speech. Steve Rogers could probably succeed in convincing everyone to jump off a bridge with enthusiasm.

Although, of course, to Steve Rogers, jumping off of a bridge isn’t something out of the question, seeing as he has a tendency to jump off of and out of dangerously high objects far too frequently. 

Either way, they were ready and hopeful. The Avengers were going to be reassembled.


	4. Avengers, Reassemble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain marvel is here and she’s actually used for something instead of just existing uselessly like in the movie

Thor was...different, to say the least. 

The past five years hadn’t exactly treated the God of Thunder with care. 

Of course, no one really expected him to be okay. Not only had the guy lost his whole family, but he also continued to blame himself for the inevitable. The uncontrollable. Just because he hit a little too low. 

Killing Thanos gave him a rush of joy for about two days, but after that he started acting very unlike himself. After a few weeks, the citizens of New Asgard stopped seeing him. He rarely came out of his secret cove, and if he did, he didn’t speak to anyone.

Rocket and Bruce arrived and immediately felt out of place.

“Uhhhh, are you sure this is the place that Captain o’ yours told us about?”

“I’m, uh, I’m pretty sure. Asgard had to relocate, remember? Ragnarok, the destruction of Asgard, death to the goddess of death herself...” Bruce trailed off after seeing Valkyrie from afar. 

“See! We’re in the right place! Hey!! Valkyrie!” Bruce shouted across the land.

Rocket was a touch embarrassed at the attention drawn to them. They were obviously not Asgardian. One look at the small, shy guy wearing an oversized sweater and the walking, talking ‘raccoon’ gave it away immediately.

Thankfully, the girl known as Valkyrie looked pleased at Bruce’s shouting and ran over to them with a smile on her face.

“Bruce! How ya been, buddy? Long time no see. Ah, and you must be Rabbit. Very nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“We’re doing as well as we can, Val. This is Rocket. Uh, we need to see Thor.” Bruce said this with a nervous voice. He didn’t see Thor anywhere. He thought that the king of Asgard would be amongst his people. Valkyrie’s expression clearly showed otherwise.

“Good luck with that one, mate. I haven’t seen him in the past month or so. Last time I did, he got supplies without a word to any of us.” 

Rocket sighed heavily. “Look, I don’t know what’s happened with him, but we really need to talk to him. It’s an emergency. Captain’s orders.” Cap had told them to come back with one God of Thunder in tow. They weren’t going back without him. 

“Look, I’ll lead you to where he is, but I can’t guarantee he’ll talk to you. I should warn you, he hasn’t been doing so well. He’s not exactly himself right now.” As Valkyrie said this, she motioned for them to follow her up some stairs on a large hill. 

Eventually, they reached the small building at the top. It was clearly unnaturally dark inside. 

“He’s in there. Good luck.” Valkyrie turned and left without another word, so, they went in.

“Hello…? Thor, you there?” Bruce softly called out to the void that was this strange home on a hill. His answer came in the form of blankets rustling and a quiet, hoarse voice.

“You guys know I asked to be left alone. Please respect that and leave.” 

Rocket had concern in his voice. “It’s definitely him it just...it’s not him, ya know?” 

“Hey, buddy, I know you don’t want company, but it’s me, Bruce. Rocket’s here too. We just wanna talk to you, okay? Can we do that?” Bruce continued in a soft, calm voice, hoping not to bother the guy too much.

Again, the rustle of blankets was heard. They could see that the lump of warmth had sat up.  
It was Thor, alright. Just a sad, poorly-groomed, probably malnourished Thor. 

“Bruce? Rabbit?? What are you guys doing here? I haven’t seen you guys in…” he trailed off. 

“Fiver years,” came from Bruce and Rocket simultaneously. 

“Yeah. Wow. Five years. I can’t believe it’s been five whole years. I’ve missed you both so much. I wish I came to see you, but...but things haven’t been going so well for me.” Thor didn’t look like a mighty God at the moment, nor did he feel like one. His walls were down, and something was clearly wrong.

“It’s okay. We understand why you couldn’t come, okay? Would you be okay talking to us, Thor?” He nodded his head in response to Bruce, signaling them to come closer. Bruce continued. 

“So, here’s the thing. Cap sent us to talk to you. It’s an emergency, and we need you t-” He was cut off before he could even explain why they needed him. 

“You know I can’t come back, Bruce. I can’t. I can’t fight anymore. There’s no point. You know the stones are gone. You know Thanos is gone. There’s nothing we can do and I’m too damn depressed to face everyone again.” Bruce lowered his head in defeat, but Rocket refused to give up that easy. 

“Let him finish, man. We wouldn’t be here if there was nothin’ we could do.” 

“Thanks...Listen Thor, what if I told you we could have another try? Me and Scott and Tony and the others have all been working on something. We figured out time travel. Time travel, Thor. We have another chance, we just need your help. I know you’re sick of fighting, but if we just push through once more, we could end everyone’s fighting and suffering if we just do this one more time. So whatta you say? Will you save the world just one more time? Could you at least listen to Cap’s plan? Cause we need you, Thor. We don’t need just the God of Thunder, we need Thor Odinson, Son of Odin.”

For a while Thor said nothing, and they sat in silence. At one point they were ready to give up, but he stood up and emerged from his hideout of comfort.

“Okay. I’m in. Let’s save the world. Again.”

“Alright! But first, you’re gettin’ a haircut and a shave. Can’t bring you back to the Avengers lookin’ like that...no offense.”

“No. You’re right, Rabbit. If I don’t get out of this slump physically then how would I be able to get out of it emotionally? It would be impossible. So, Bruce, have you ever given a haircut to an Asgardian God before?”

To say that the trip back to New York was weird would be an understatement. Despite it being the most awkward spaceship ride of all time, Thor was back to himself-at least on the outside-with a tamed beard and his old haircut. 

“Welcome back to the team, Thor.”

 

Natasha stood at the base of the ramp that extended from the Quinjet they took here. Where was here, exactly? She didn’t quite know. 

She was unsure of a lot of things right now. Steve and Rhodey stood off to the side as she stood still, her feet planted to the ground, her eyes glued there as well. Her mind was in a battle with itself.

I can’t do it. Can’t see him like this.

I thought you were the Black Widow, tough-as-nails Russian spy, and now you’re scared? What would those at the Academy think if they could see you now?

He’s my family, he’s not supposed to be like this. I can’t-

Her thoughts were cut off by Steve.

“Listen,” he sighed, approaching her even more. “I understand if you wanna stay here. I don’t personally get it, of course, but I get it. I’m proud of you for making it this far, Nat, but you do not have to go further if you’re not comfortable with that, okay?” Steve Rogers always was the ‘mom’ of the group. 

Nat never appreciated people going soft on her or trying to help her, but Steve never did it in a patronizing way. She knew he cared, so she didn’t snap. 

Instead she just nodded her head and quietly walked forward, looking the Captain straight in his eyes. “No. I can do this. It has to be me. Let’s go.”

And so they went into the depths of the city known as Tokyo. They knew he’d be here, and it didn’t take long to find him.

If they were a minute or two earlier, they probably could have stopped the murder of a most likely innocent man. It was hard to watch for all of them. 

No one quite knew how Clint Barton, the Hawkeye, the Family Man, could have turned into something so vicious out of seemingly nowhere.

Nat was slowly approaching his location as Cap and Rhodes stayed back.

Steve fought her on it for a solid five minutes, but she refused to go unless it was on her own, carrying just an umbrella to shield from the rain. 

She was visibly shaking, though they couldn’t tell if it was from the cold rain or fear. She knew it was the latter.

Nat stood in silence, approaching as slowly and softly as she could. She should have known it didn’t matter how quiet she tried to be, he would know. He was a trained spy as well. 

“You shouldn’t be here.” The sound of metal being torn out of flesh was deafening to Nat. This was real. He had just killed a man in cold blood. Stabbed him right through his chest. She could feel her throat closing, unable to make a noise. 

She fought through it, stepping closer. “Neither should you.” 

She was right. 

He should be back at the compound, helping them fix everything. He wasn’t supposed to be a mass murderer, he was supposed to be an Avenger. He was supposed to be Clint Barton, not whoever the man standing in front of her was.

“Don’t, Nat. You need to leave.” He tried once more to turn away and leave, but she refused to back down.

“No. Not without you. We need you, Clint. I need you. We...we found something. A way to redo everything. We have a second chance…” He needed to come with her. She would stay here forever if she had to. 

“Don’t give me false hope, Nat! Don’t spew this bullshit to me just cause you think you can figure it out. Just cause you think you can change the damn past.”  
Despite all the yelling, Nat stayed extremely calm.

“Gotta say, Clint, killing everyone won’t bring them back.”

“Shut the hell up…” he was choking up, holding back tears built up for five years.

“This won’t, but we can. And we will. So, you can keep causing everyone else pain, or you can come with me and get your family back. Steve’s up there waiting, we gotta go now.”

Clint turned to look at her and was in tears. He silently nodded and took her hand. 

They both walked away, hand in hand. “Whatever she said, looks like she did it,” Rhodey sighed. They’d been waiting longer than they would have wanted, but they knew it could have taken a while. 

“I knew she would. Come on, let’s meet them halfway.”

 

Scott felt...very out of place, to say the least.

He was stuck with the two people on the (remaining) Avengers that he liked the least. It didn’t help that he was already the most awkward human being ever, but Tony’s ego and immediate hatred towards him plus Nebula’s judgment of him and her being a straight up jerk equaled an overall not fun time. 

Maybe he was a little biased about them as well.

He’s had a vendetta against Tony Stark ever since he became very involved in the Pym-Van Dyne’s lives.

There was also that time when Stark was just being an asshole (Isn’t that all the time?, Scott thought to himself as he suppressed a laugh) when causing the whole ‘Civil War’ between the Avengers.

He didn’t need to be a dick. So, yeah. Scott didn’t like him. 

With Nebula, he didn’t really have any past contact with her, but the day he met her she called him an idiot and thought she was so much better than him.

So there he was, sitting backwards on a chair, watching them try to figure this whole Carol Danvers thing out from afar. 

Scott has learned over the years of being around Hope and Hank that sometimes people can be so smart, they’re dumb. Or, they’re at least overlooking the obvious solution to their problem. 

Hope would do it all the time. She’d be curled up on his couch, ranting about some big science thing and how annoying it was, and he’d just point out to her the easiest solution like it was nothing, and that all she had to do was step back and look at it from a different angle, and then she’d give him that smile, that smile, that only he got to see, that...NO. 

He had to stop thinking about it. 

About her. 

About them all. 

About his whole, weirdly amazing family. It hurt too much. I’m gonna get you guys back. Gonna get my girls back.

 

Tony of course had to cut off his thoughts with a snarky comment. 

“Yo, Micro Machine, you gonna help anytime soon, or you gonna keep sitting on your ass all day?”

“He’d be no help anyway. We have to figure out how to track her and project the message to her.”

Scott was beyond sick of everyone assuming he was stupid.  
He thought back to the day he got here, frantically running around the main room. “Have you tried the comms yet?”

Of course the two ‘smarter’ people in the room looked at him with confusion at his-what should be obvious-answer.

“...well, no, but who knows if she’ll answer.”

“So it’s better to build something to maybe project a message that she’ll maybe see instead of trying to just...call her...on a system she was just using the other day?” Scott had come into the compound literal minutes after Natasha had finished her call with a few of the Avengers, Carol Danvers being one of them.

“Okay, fine. You try to solve this, tiny man,” she said with just disbelief and disgust. Nebula really was a jerk to everyone but herself. Not to mention how unsettling her weird whisper-talk voice was. 

“Uh, okay. So…” Scott didn’t exactly know how to work these, but it couldn’t be that hard. He had a degree in mechanical engineering for fucks sake, he could surely figure this out. “So we just gotta turn it on and notify only her,” he was frantically pressing things as he was explaining this, “aaaaand there we go. It’s signaling to her right now.”

Scott was pretty proud of himself for figuring it out. Hope and Hank would have been so proud of me for showing up the Tony Stark, he smiled at the thought. Scott Lang, deemed useless in these situations by many other Avengers, just easily solved the problem at hand. Now they just had to wait. 

“Great job, Scott, you hit a button. Doesn’t look like she’s answeri-“

As if Captain Marvel herself wanted to piss off Tony and finally shut him up, she appeared in front of them as a hologram. 

“Hello? Nat if you’re calling for another update I got nothin for ya.”

“Um...hello, Ms. Captain Marvel Sir, uh I’m Scott Lang-“ Scott was interrupted by-of course-Tony. 

“Alright, you’re taking too long. To get to the point, Danvers, we were-“  
“No I’d like to go back to, Scott, was it?” Scott nodded in response.  
“Okay yeah I wanna go back to Scott.”

He stepped forward, visibly nervous. “Great. So, why’d you call, Scott?”

“Uh, thank you, Captain. We have Captain’s orders-the other captain that is. Cap. Steve…anyway he told us to call you. We found out how to go back in time by traveling through this thing called the Quantum Realm. I won’t bore you with details, but, uh it’d be really great if you could come back. 

I know you’re busy and have a lot of ground to cover, but we need to save Earth today. It’d mean a lot if you could come cause we need someone like you.”

Scott said all of this while pacing back and forth, bouncing on his feet. He didn’t wanna come on too strong, but they needed her help. 

“Thanks for the info. Give me an hour, I’ll be there.”  
“Really?”

“Really. Tell Cap I’m coming.”

“I-I will, Captain Marvel.”

 

“So, how’d we do?” Steve walked in Natasha, Rhodey, and Clint Barton in tow. They almost didn’t recognize Clint. 

His hair was different, he was looking down at his feet and had an oversized sweatshirt on.  
He looked like a changed man. 

The light in his eyes had vanished. He was a shell of the man he once was. Someone who lost everything. But he was here. 

“I present the new an’ improved God of Thunder.”

“Hello Steve. It’s been a while.”

“It has. I’m glad to see you again. Scott, Tony, did you get Carol?” 

Scott jumped in. “She’s on her way!” He wasn’t gonna lie, he did always have a mini-crush on Steve. 

Hope always made fun of him for it, but it was all in good fun. 

Steve was very relieved to know that everyone completed their tasks. “Okay, good. That’s good. That’s a success then! Good job everyone. Oh uh also, everyone who doesn’t know him yet, this is Clint. Clint, this is everyone else.” 

Clint looked up, gave a sad smile, and returned his eyes to the ground. 

 

Not surprisingly, the only person he would communicate with at all was Natasha, and even then he’d mutter something to her, no one else being able to hear it.

Everyone talked for a little while, catching up after a five year gap. 

“Motion detected at front entrance.”

“Thanks, Friday. You can let her in.” 

“Tony how’d you know it was her?” Rhodey was obviously confused. 

“If there’s another person showing up at our door with flaming hands and blinding superpowers we’ve got a huge problem, so yeah I’m fairly certain the unnatural glow of the earth coming from that window was her.” Sarcasm, of course. 

“Yo, what’s up? Where’s Lang, he said it was an emergency.” 

Scott popped up from behind the crowd of Avengers. “Uh, hi. Hello, Captain. Captain Danvers, sir. I’m Scott. Scott Lang. The one that called.” He said this nervously as he shook her out-streched hand. 

“You got quite a grip there, Scott. Thanks for calling me, it’s nice to meet you.” Carol, of course, showed no signs of nerves whatsoever. Her suave, cool personality was very obvious. 

“Nice to meet you too, Captain. It’s a pleasure.” Scott couldn’t stop smiling. 

He thought about how well Carol and Hope would get along. Now there’s a power duo that could rule the world with their badassery, he thought to himself. 

“So, what’s the emergency?”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to anyone who actually read this, I don’t really like the writing to be honest but I had a lot of fun. More chapters will come :)


End file.
